Improved machine for pressing and sheeting tobacco



To all whom it may concern j f N ttltitl4 i tant i aient ctjijiire;

encuen W. aucune., osWALn o. SWAN, ANDl TnoMAs' W. aucun ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.'v

-Lette'rs Patent A To. 105,981, dated August 2, 1870.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

Be it known that we, GEORGE W. ltUoKnn, Os- WALD O. SWAN, and THOMAS W. RUGKER, all of the ,city and county of St. Louis, Stateof Missouri, have invented a new and, useful improved Apparatus for Pressing Tobacco, et' ,which the following is a full,

clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexeddrawing making a part of this specification, in Which- Y Figures 1 and 2 represent side views ofV diierent parts of our apparatus. I

'Figure 3 represents a plan ottig. 2.

Similar letters indicate like parts.'

In theordinary manner of manufacturing tobacco 'there is much loss of time v'and great labor employed" in rolling the leat'preparatoryto prizing inthe cells, and, also, there is great waste .in the material, and much refuse created in the cutting of the prized to- Y bucco, so as to prepare it for the caddies.

To remedy these defects, and at the 'same time do i the work much better and quickly, is the object ofour invention,l whiclrwe' areabout to describe.

We construct a box, A, without bottom or top,'hav ingonly four sides, which are` put together by rods c a', 85e., g; 1, having heads on one end and nuts on the other, so that, by merely loosening thelatter, the

ends may be taken'outior slid up, as indicated by the dotted line in the figure. This must be made strong enough to withstand great lateral pressure.- This box when in use, rests on a platform, B, attached to a frame, G, and through Athe` cross-piece of .this frame.v l is passeda screw, D, as seen, and having a slot, e,

through which to pass a lever which operates it.

0i' course the ends of B must rest irmly, and this may be accomplished either by Aplacing supports under each end, or sinkingthe frame G in the earth or the ooring till it isush with B.

Numerous plates, `preferably made of metal, are

made to lit exactly in the `inside of A, as seenat b b", &c. 4

yOnanother frame, E, figs. 2 3, is arranged a plate, F, so that it can be slid'in and ont, as indicated byl the dotted line in fig. 2, suitable mortises being provided for ,it to run in, it resting, however, on the bed V of the frame. 4

Aroundthe two sides of this plate are perfor-ations o o,.&c., so arranged that when ,the tooth ofthe spring catch R, figs. 2, 3, (the spring being plainly seen inlthe formel` igure,) drops into each, it shall hold thei plate in such a position that one of the grooves or channels 1 2 3, &c, out at vright angles to each other on the face of the plate shall be directly under a oir- .cular knife, S, hereafter .to he described. VThis plate i is made so that it may be taken entirely out and put baek, so that each series of channels may be, inI turn,

. to run in the grooves or channels cut as described in the plate F, and plainly seen in tig. 3.

- By sliding this plate in and ont, and reversing as Y described,` of course the knife may be made to travel successively in each of the grooves; or, if it is preferred, several blades or knives, corresponding to the number of' the grooves, may be attached tothe revolving shaft, in which case the plate need not be moved, 'except to revers'eit, all the parallel -cuttings being -made at the same time; but we preferthe single knife,

as the other would require an increase of power not desirable.

The inode-of using our apparatus is as follows: lhe tobacco having been treated in the usual way, up to the point where the usual rolling commences, we dispense with this and put the leaves directly into the box A. Wh'en we have enough in it, we insert above the tobacco one of' the plates b, as seen, and

continue the operation of placing. alternately the tobacco and plates till we have completely 'iilled the box, using the lever-screw D to assist' the lilling, and to prize the tobacco into compact sheets, as is done in 'the old cell press. When it is sufficiently prized, the

nut-s of the rods are loosened, and the ends of the box slid np till a layer or sheet of the tobacco can be removed, which is then placed on the plate F, and, by means of the revolving knife S, 4out into strips corresponding to the spaces between the channels on the plate; then the knife is drawn back till the frame'P is in the position indicated by the dotted lines in lig. 3,

and the plate F is reversed, and the cutting again car-` ried on. This leaves the sheets of tobacco in the shape of lumps corresponding to the divisions of the plate F,

which are then taken, and, in the usual manner, prized into the caddies.

The manner in which the grooves are laid out on the plate F is regulated by the size of the luinpinto which it is proposed .tocut the tobacco, andthe amount of tobacco put between each plate in the box A4 is regulatedby weight, the weight being determined by the number, size, and -weight of the lumps into which it is proposed to cut the sheets. y

The leaf, when put into the box, may be either Wet or dry, which is notthe case' when the processv of rol1- n, or

ing is resorted to, for then the tobacco must he wet. It is evident that there can be no refuse or waste from the cutting, as the box A and the plate on which the sheets are cut are made exactly the same in size.

As an illustration of the construction of an apparatus of this kind, we will give the dimensions and operation `of one now in use in our factory.

The 4box A is fonr feet high, and twenty-four by thirty-six inches inside measurement. It makes nineteen sheets, using, ofcourse, twenty boards or plates.

Each sheet is cut by the knife, we nsing but one, into forty-eight lumps, six inches by three, which is th'e dimension of the squares or spaces on the plate,

F. With this apparatus one man and a boycan work twelve hundred pounds of tobacco in aday, fully ten times as muchas by the old process.

We, of course, do not claim there is anything new in prizing tobacco into sheets, or in cutting it afterward intolnmps, since both operations have long been practiced, nor do we claim any originality in the manner of operating the prizing-screw, or of disposing of the lumps after they are cut by the knife as described but What we do claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In connection with the press-box A of a tobaccopress, constructed substantially as shown, the hereindescribed cutting machinery, consisting of the stationary frame E and catch R, the sliding flame P, carry-l ing the shaft N and circular knife S, and the sliding plate F, provided with perforations o o', and the longitudinal and transverse grooves 1, 2, 3, 8vo., all con; structed and arranged for joint operation, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

Gr.v Vif. RUOKER.

0. 0. SWAN. T. W. RUCKER. Witnesses:

SAML. S. BOYD, Lewis MYERS. 

